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Happy 2018 Winter Olympics y’all! Time to reflect on the accomplishments of some of the world’s most elite young athletes and ask…. what am I doing with my life? Let’s get started!
Vincent Zhou, 17, USA: Figure Skating
Born: October 25, 2000
Age he started skating: 5
Zhou is the youngest U.S. Olympian. Zhou will be one of six 17-year-olds on the U.S. team. He’s 22 years younger than the oldest U.S. Olympian, ice hockey player Brian Gionta, 39. The average age of team USA is a little over 26, so yeah. There’s that. Skip to 1:40 to see him do a quadruple lutz triple toe combo that will make you question how you spent your childhood.
Watch him compete on February 9 so you can feel:
Chloe Kim, 17, USA
Event: Snowboard Halfpipe
Born: April 23, 2000
Age she began snowboarding: 4
Chloe Kim is famous even by Olympian standards. The 17-year-old snowboard phenom already has a gold medal from the 2016 Youth Olympic Games and her very own Super Bowl ad. She’s been dominating the sport for the past couple of years, and is the only athlete in X Games history to earn three gold medals before the age of 16. Oh, and did we mention she also speaks fluent French, English, and Korean?
Watch her compete on February 13 so you can feel:
Maame Biney, 17, USA
Event: Speedskating
Born: January 28, 2000
Age she began speedskating: 6
Biney is already making history as the first African-American female speedskating Olympian. Apparently she originally wanted to be a figure skater but was told she was too fast (!!!). In addition to tearing up the ice like a badass Frozen GenZ ice princess, she knows taekwondo and loves chemistry. In high school she was known for being way too HAPPY all the time.
Watch her compete on February 10 so you can feel:
Wu Meng, 15, China
Event: Ski Halfpipe
Born: October 2, 2002
Wu Meng is the youngest Olympian in the 2018 winter games (although there are six other 15 year olds competing from various countries). There isn’t a whole lot of video online of Wu Meng competing, maybe because it’s only her first Olympics?
Oh, and in case you thought this list was short because there are so few teen Olympians, WRONG. There are so many teens competing in Pyeongchang it’s starting to feel like Tumblr. Here’s a short not-even-complete list of young’uns to watch:
Others:
Jennie-Lee Burmansson (15) — Ski Slopestyle (Sweden)
Zhang Kexin (15) — Ski Halfpipe (China)
Alina Zagitova (15) — Figure Skating (Russia)
Kim Ha-Nul (15) — Figure Skating (South Korea)
Hiroaki Kunitake (15) — Snowboard Big Air/Slopestyle (Japan)
Reira Iwabuchi (16) — Snowboard Big Air/Slopestyle (Japan)
Alice Robinson (16) — Alpine Skiing (New Zealand)
Ayaulum Amrenova (16) — Moguls (Kazakhstan)
Nico Porteous (16) — Ski Halfpipe (New Zealand)